Day: April 9, 2019

Usually, there’s a degree of commonality with the Tout’s picks. Tonight, they’re all over the place. We’ll have a chat open at 7:00 PM ET for those wanting to hang out and talk some baseball.

Todd Zola (Mastersball, @toddzola)

Pitcher: Mike Minor – Want to use Jacob deGrom, so need to find a cheaper SP2. I don’t like Minor at home, but I’ll roll the dice in an NL park against a middling lineup

Hitter: Robinson Cano – Batting 3rd against Kyle Gibson at home? Yes, please!

Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire, @JeffBoggis)

Pitcher: John Means – I need a low cost, high ceiling starting pitcher tonight as I am also going with Jacob DeGrom at $11,600. Means is playing for a spot in the Baltimore rotation and has pitched well this season. He’s thrown 5.2 inning with 9 strikeouts and 2 walks. He has a favorable matchup today at home against Oakland.

Hitter: Christian Yelich – It was a tough decision on starting either Yelich or Chris Davis tonight. (Who am I kidding?) I’m actually going to do a Milwaukee stack for the most part as they face Matt Harvey tonight. Yelich owns a .370 batting average all time versus Harvey.

Steve Gardner (USAToday Fantasy Sports, @SteveAGardner)

Pitcher: Jacob deGrom – The reigning NL Cy Young award winner hasn’t allowed a run in his first two starts and he’ll be pitching at home against the DH-less Twins. He’s the closest to a sure thing on the schedule, so I’ll find value elsewhere.

Hitter: Whit Merrifield – The guy has a 29-game hitting streak! Yeah, he isn’t going to threaten DiMaggio just yet but against lefty Marco Gonzales, I’ll take my chances.

Dan Strafford (FNTSY Radio, @DanStrafford)

Pitcher: Derek Holand – While not someone who I’m overly comfortable with on regular basis, Holland presents the best park on the slate. San Francisco’s Oracle Park helps to mitigate the RHB of San Diego here.

Hitter: Nolan Arenado – While stacking Coors may be difficult if you’re looking to play one of the top end pitchers, it’s hard to imagine any hitter in a better “spot” than Nolan Arenado. Over his career agaisnt LHP at Coors Field, Arenado sports a .388 ISO. He’s going up agaisnt lefty Max Fried who, while talented, relies on a curveball as one of his out pitchers. Coors Field greatly diminishes the effectiveness of the curve.
Gene McCaffrey (The Athletic, @WiseGuyGene)

Pitcher: John Means – Paired with deGrom for salary relief, has a chance to put up a good start but I’ll be happy with 15 points
Hitter: Robinson Cano – Not expensive but a good bet to hit a home run, and where there is one home run there can be two.

Michael Florio (NFL Network, @MichaelFFlorio)

Pitcher: Marco Gonzales – The Royals have a .260 wOBA against lefties this season, which is the fourth lowest in baseball. Also, the Mariners have been scoring a ton of runs, which greatly increases his chance at a win.

Hitter: Joc Pederson – I am a sucker for Joc. But he has been red hot, is hitting leadoff and facing Dakota Hudson who has already allowed 3 homers to left handed hitters. The fear is that he gets pinch hit for later in the game, but I trust him to get on base and potentially go deep tonight.

Adam Ronis (Scout Fantasy, @AdamRonis)

Pitcher: Jacob deGrom – No need to get cute. He hasn’t allowed an earned run yet, the wind is blowing in on a cool night and Nelson Cruz isn’t in the lineup.

Hitter: German Marquez – This is a sucker pick…I’m a sucker for Marquez. I don’t imagine he’ll be owned by more than one or two other people, so if he hits, it should separate me from the pack.

Clay Link (Rotowire, @claywlink)

Pitcher: German Marquez – This is a sucker pick…I’m a sucker for Marquez. I don’t imagine he’ll be owned by more than one or two other people, so if he hits, it should separate me from the pack.

Hitter: Jorge Soler – Just 3-for-his-last-28, but SEA/KC has the third-highest over/under tonight and Soler is a career .254/.346/.460 hitter (115 wRC+) against left-handed pitching.

Charlie Wiegert (CDM Sports, @GFFantasySports)

Pitcher: Marco Gonzales – Seattle is hot and Marco in the middle of it. Good chance for a win and 6+K’s

Hitter: Jay Bruce – Stacking Seattle and Colorado tonight. Bruce and Santana could both go deep, Arenado will hit his first HR this year, and Story goes back to back nights

Tout Daily is back for the 2019 season. Tout Daily is a DFS league where the season is broken into five four-week segments. The top three point scorers in each period are awarded a Golden Ticket into the Championship Round. In addition, the Tout accruing the most points over the 20 week regular season earns a wild-card entry into the tourney.

Phil Hertz from Baseball HQ lapped the field in Week 1. His lineup was so dominating, Phil’s 195.35 points would have still lead the pack without Mike Trout’s two-homer evening. Along with Trout, Phil got a big night on the hill from the Pirates’ Joe Musgrove and his seven scoreless, eight strikeout effort against the Reds. Lady Luck also was in Phil’s favor. “At 6:15 pm, it started to pour in Maryland,” Hertz explains. “Remembering I had Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto and Jonathan Schoop in my lineup, I checked the Philadelphia weather report.  All it showed was rain and more rain.  I brought up my lineup.  Out went Realmuto, in came Tyler Flowers. Out came Schoop, in came Ketel Marte, etc.  So if it hadn’t started to pour at home, Steve Gardner and Michael Beller probably win. “

Marte totaled 34 points while Flowers added 19. Phil also played Adam Jones and his 25 points.

There was a rare tie for second as defending champion Michael Beller from Sports Illustrated and Steve Gardner from USA Today each tallied 154.2 points.

Week 1 was a rare Friday night Tout Daily contest. We return to Tuesday this evening, our regular night. Be sure to check back later as the Touts share their favorite hitter and pitcher picks for the Tuesday night slate. We’ll also have a chat posted on ToutWars.com where you can follow along and get your fantasy baseball questions answered.

Here’s the Tout Daily Leaderboard:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Lkp-pznGjNL0mp6QZXRLAdQsW12mFStDe7WJvBmPhys/edit#gid=0